Overwrapped cigarette carton



DCC- 30, 1958 J. R. CHAPMAN ovERwRpPD 'CIGARETTE CARTON Filed May 15, 1957 2,866,590 OVERWRAPPED CIGARETTE CARTON James R. Chapman, Jetfersontown, Ky., assignor to Reynolds Metals Company, Richmond, Va., a corporation of Delaware Application May 15, 1957, Serial No. 659,238

-5 Claims. (Cl. 229-51) This invention relates to an overwrapped carton for cigarettes, or the like. More particularly, it relates to an overwrapped carton which may be readily opened and reclosed without impairment of the sales appeal furnished by the overwrap material and without requiring time consuming precautions by the operator.`

As is known, a special packaging problem is presented in the marketing of cigarettes in certain localities wherein local taxes are imposed thereon. In general, the manufacturer of cigarettes operating on a nation wide basis and employing high speed cartoning and packaging equipment, pays the Federal tax and afxes to each package of cigarettes the Federal stamp on which such tax has been paid. These packagesbearing such stamps are then enclosed in a conventional ,carton about which a suitable overwrap is afxed and this completed carton then moves in trade channels. However, upon entering it is necessary for the wholesaler or distributor to open the carton, remove each package, and aix to that package an additional stamp or other symbol indicative of payment of that local tax. After this is accomplished, the packages are restored to the carton which then is placed on the retailers shelf and becomes the article found at the point of sale.

Usually, the above described re-stamping operation is conducted manually and involves a greater or lesser mutilation not only of the overwrap, but also the carton, unless time consuming precautions are taken by the operator. lt has further been found 'that much of the sales appeal of attractive overwrap material designed to attract `discriminating trade is lost as aV result of these limitations of the described business practice, Accordingly, itis an object of invention toi ,provide Ta; means for overcoming these and similar disadvantages now found in the retailing of cigarettes and other commodities having similar problems. I have discovered that, by employing a modified conventional cigarette carton with a closely fitting heat-sealed overwrap thereon, the required restamping operation can be carried out quickly without detracting from the sales appeal of the carton.

An object of the invention is to provide a readily openable and reclosable cigarette carton having an overwrap heat-sealed thereto and which is not mutilated objectionably during the opening and reclosing of the carton.

Another object is to provide an overpwrapped cigarette carton having a projection integral with the carton material and governing the adhesion of the overwrap to the carton in a selected region adapted for initiating the opening of the closed carton.

Another object is to provide an inexpensive overwrapped cigarette carton which may be opened rapidly without objectionable mutilation of either the overwrap material or of the carton material.

Other objects and advantages will become more apva State or locality in which a local tax is also imposed, `V

showing a modified form of ap.

parent as the descriptionproceeds and when considered` in conjunction with theac'companying drawingin-which 2 "Fig, 1 is a perspective view of an overwrapped carton prior to being opened, the overwrap being shown diagram.- i

matically by solid lines. l f

Fig. 2 is a perspective View of the overwrapped carton in opened position. t

Fig. 3 is a sectional view through the closed carton j on an enlarged scaleand taken along line 3-,3 of Fig. l.

Fig. 4 is a fragmentalsectional view of the upper edge. f of the closed carton taken along line 4--4 of `Fig.,1.

Referring first to Fig.,5, there is shown generally at use the thin wrapping material known by the trademark,

Reyseal, comprising an aluminum foil layer 11 laminated with a microcrystalline wax layer 12 to aninner layer 13 i' of tissue paper. Such an overwrap may be readily sealed to the carton surfaces by conventional heat-sealing means and the layer 1l may bear printed matter lin attractive designs, which adds to the sales appeal of the carton.

ln addition, suchan overwrap-may be neatly'severed along a given Vline without objectionable tearing.

Considering now-Figs. l and 2, a conventional cigarette carton formed of paper board may be encased by "thel above described heat scalable overwrap` at the factory l. 'and be shipped in Ysealed condition to the State whereinv an additional tax is to be ievied. This carton is made.v from a single sheet of paper board orvequivalent material y and comprises a bottom panel member 14, coacting front and rear side panel members 15 and 16 and has oppositel ends, one being shown at 17, consisting `of aps which extend from the panel members and which are permal nently glued together to form the ends. The top' panel member 18 is pivoted'to the rear panel memberk and has an elongated flap '19 'at its front extremity. This flap is adapted to fit` snugly against` the, inner surface of the front panel member while the carton'is in closed position, and in contrast to known cartons of this type,` does not require adhesive to hold the carton in. shape.:

,As` will thus be seen, an overwrapp'ed carton, of

parallelepiped shapewithwell defined straight edges-at the junction of the topfpanel -member 1S and at '-therf ends and front wall of the carton is provided. However,

4in applying the heat-sealed overwrap, the close tis unable to determine the precise point at which to insert a tool for opening the carton. It will be understoodthat, in its broader aspects, any conventional overwrap, such as cellophane, polyethylene and the like,

may be used and that some of these overwraps are-transparent. However, due to the manner in which such overwraps are applied by machine, the parting line between the top and front of the carton usually is difficult toy detect and this has ,further contributed to the mutilation of the overwrap and carton, regardless of whether the overwrap is opaque or' transparent, during the opening procedure.

With the foregoing in mind, referenceis made to Fig.y I

RCC Patented Dec. 30,1958., l

Fig. 3 andy Y' 3 oflitheicarton, `I provide-a-tprojecting portion of the carton blank which servesto spacehthe flap 19andthefront wall panel 15 apart. Accordingly, when the overwrap is applied to the carton, an openslot 20 is left beneath the overwrap imaterial which bridges that` slot.` VSince-the-` bridginglporton `of overwrap tdoes not adhere to anyA portion of thecarton blank?, it-may` be-easily puncturod withfarknifey bladeorother tool iniorder to start the slitting action necessary to open the carton. in general, a single projectionZl, asV shown in Figs. l, 2 and 3, is sufficient and may be formed merely by pressing a memberlagainst the outer surface of front panel to provide an embossed dot'as shown. `This formingoperation can readily be incorporated into `conventional packagingma- `chinery and, as will `be Seen, the projection `is formed asiian integral portion, of the carton` and requires no additionalicarton blankmaterial.` As an alternative form, the projecting portion may be formed in the flap 19 as seen-at 22fin Fig. 6 andtwherein a similar slot 23 is 9 formed. A

It istcontemplated that the overwrap will be provided i with suitable reference indicia, particularly when formed of an opaque material, to show the location of slots or 23; Such a slot may be formed either at the right `hand uppercorner` or at the left hand upper corner of the front of the carton, provided all cartons to be handled have the slotiat the same corner. When opening the overwrapped cartons, theroperator merely slips a knife blade into the slot and draws the blade lengthwise of the cartonA between the abutting front panel 15 and the surface 'of ap 19. As noted in the 1 preferred embodiment shown in Fig. 4, no obstruction to the movement of the bladetis present, since these parts are not glued together.` Of course, several glue spots may be used, if fdesired, without departing from the scope of the invention. Moreover, the slots generally are only a fraction of an inch in length, beinglong enough to start the blade in the proper direction, but not so long as to leave a substantial length of bridging overwrap which might contribute to lbulging` of the closed carton.

After the front of the overwrap is slitted, the ends are similarly `slitted and the front panel section is lifted, as seen in` Fig. 2, to provide access to the cigarettes. After thetrestamping operation, the front panel is again lowered andmay be glued to the ap 19. If desired, the top panel 4 maybe the one selected for lifting.4 At this time, the advantages of theinvention ,are most apparent. The

`overwrap `which is heat-sealed `to the surfaces of the carton is found` to be untom, merely being neatly slittcd in three straight lines, and the carton retains substantially alloftits original sales appeal. The abovesteps of slitting, opening, stamping, glueing` and reclosing lend themselves readily to a simple machine operation.

Having thus described the invention and having shown av preferred embodiment thereof, it will be understood that numerous changes may be made in the construction without departing from the spirit of the invention and it is, therefore, desired that the present embodiment be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, reference Ibeing made to the appended claims rathel than to the foregoing description to indicate the scope of the invention.

What l claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

l. In an overwrapped cigarette carton adapted to be opened and reclosed by manual operation, said carton being formed of a single blank of material and having a bottom panel member, coacting front and rear side panel members, opposite ends consisting of ilaps which extend from said members and with said aps being permanently glued together to form said ends, and atop panel member -pivoted to said rear sidemember and having an elongated tlap at the extremity thereof adapted to be' inserted interiorly of said front panel member and in close contact therewith, and aclosely fitting overwrap contacting the exterior surfaces of said carton on each of said panel members and ends; the improvement comprising a projection integral with said blank of material and located at` an upper corner of the front of said carton, said projection having a depth sufficient to space ina predetermined region a portion of said elongated tlap from the adjacent portion of said front panel member thereby to prevent the contact of said overwrap with said carton in vsaid region and to form a slot bridged by said overwrap in order that a tool may be inserted through said bridging overwrap into said slot for neatly severing the overwrap during the opening of said carton.

2. A carton as defined in claim l wherein said projection is formed integrally with said front panel member.

3. A carton as denedin claim l wherein said projection is formed integrally with said elongated ap.

4. Aicarton as dened in claim 1 wherein said overwrap is heat-sealed to the surfacestof said carton.

5. A carton as defined in-claim 4 wherein said overwrap comprises an aluminumfoil laminated by a microcrystalline wax to a tissue paper layer adapted to contact the surfaces of said carton.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED `STATES PATENTS 

